Saturday, November 24, 2012

Hamas says fishing limit to extend under ceasefire deal

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) –
Egyptian, Israeli and Palestinian officials representing the Hamas-run
government in Gaza will meet next Monday in Cairo to discuss the
aftermath of the ceasefire agreement.

The Office of Gaza Prime
Minister Ismail Haniyeh said he was informed by the director of Egyptian
intelligence that Israel agreed to allow Gaza fishermen to go six
nautical miles off the coast of Gaza instead of three, which has been
the limit under Israel's siege.

"Israel has allowed Palestinian
fishermen to fish in Gaza's waters at a distance of six miles, up from
three miles," Haniyeh's office said.

Israel had no immediate comment.

Murad
al-Issi, a member of a local fishermens' group, told Reuters his
colleagues had already ventured out to the six-mile limit on Saturday,
undisturbed by Israel.

"The Israeli army naval boat which used to
fire and torch Palestinian boats that sailed beyond a three-mile
distance watched without doing anything to prevent them," Issi said.

Palestinians say the Israeli restrictions had hampered the amount and variety of fish they could catch.

"This is a good step," Issi said, adding it would be best to be permitted double the distance.

In
another apparent Israeli step to ease restrictions, Palestinian farmers
tended land along the frontier with Israel without incident, a day
after Israeli troops killed a Palestinian man at a border fence.

Gaza
security officials were on patrol and Israeli soldiers looked on
without interfering, but for a brief verbal exchange between one soldier
and a Hamas guard, witnesses said.

Palestinians denounced Friday's shooting as a violation of the ceasefire and Egypt intervened to restore calm.

Haniyeh's office said in a statement that the border zone would also be addressed in Monday's meeting, among other things.

Israeli
and Palestinian negotiators agreed on a 20-nautical-mile fishing zone
off Gaza's coast under the Oslo Accords, but Israel unilaterally imposes
a 3-mile limit.

Israeli warships frequently open fire at boats that allegedly stray from the permitted area.

Israel
has controlled Gaza waters since its occupation of the area in 1967,
and has kept several warships stationed off the coast since 2008.